It’s exam time. Cue sleepless nights, cramming and stress. How long should an exam essay be? How do I choose which exam question to do and which should I do first? How long should I spend on each question? How … Read More

So your lecturer has asked you for a ‘close analysis’ of a piece of text. You have no idea what that means. What do you do? Panic. Not good – panic breeds paralysis and you no doubt have a deadline. … Read More

What is Plagiarism? Plagiarism is the deliberate unacknowledged use of someone’s else’s material ie passing off someone else’s ideas as your own. That’s why we have referencing systems 🙂 . Plagiarism is NOT repeating a point that your lecturer made … Read More

A tutorial is where you meet a lecturer either for a one-to-one session or as a small group, usually either in the lecturer’s office or a seminar room. You will probably have to read something to prepare for the tutorial … Read More

My search for advice for students starting University came up with little to do with study, much to do with alcohol, partying etc. While it may be fun to read such stuff it can also stress students out because they … Read More

‘I don’t really know what’s relevant – I just get lost and the set texts don’t help because they’re too complicated’. There are two issues here: you find the set texts difficult to read and you’re not sure how to … Read More

‘I don’t really know what’s relevant – I just get lost and the set texts don’t help because they’re too complicated’. There are two issues here: you find the set texts difficult to read and you’re not sure how to … Read More

This one is for those of you who like bullet points to break text down. 🙂 Ways to make using journals easier: Ask your tutor if s/he can recommend journal articles. Use the index!! Journals usually have a table of … Read More

Journals are excellent sources for up to date research but on a practical level they are usually highly specialised, with a natural focus on research rather than teaching and are written with academics rather than students in mind. The language … Read More

I’m tempted to say “Man up and get on with it” but that’s not very helpful. 🙂 There are 2 kinds of texts: primary texts are the ones you’re studying and you should be reading the whole thing unless told … Read More

Why wouldn’t you? They are the best place to gain information on what the course requires and to get help to do well in your assessments. No-one’s going to arrest you for not attending (although some courses do have minimum … Read More

I know some of you are finding it rather tough at University at the moment so I’ll share some well known Churchillian motivational comments with you. Churchill suffered from depression or ‘the black dog’ as he called it so he … Read More

You are responsible for getting to class on time. You are responsible for buying and reading course books. You are responsible for taking notes in lectures and seminars (you may be lucky and have a lecturer who provides handouts but … Read More

Everyone else is smarter than me I’m the only one who doesn’t understand this I don’t belong here I’ll never get the hang of this I’m the only one with problems I can’t ask that question – my tutor will … Read More

A seminar is like a larger scale tutorial. You’ll have 1 lecturer and anywhere up to 30 students (sometimes a few more on popular courses). Seminars can take different forms and may include students doing presentations on set topics; lecturers … Read More

Lecturers generally hope that students will have read at least a good portion of the text because if they know nothing about it then they won’t understand a lecture on it, let alone be able to discuss it at a … Read More

‘My lecturer is staring at me – it freaks me out’. It’s highly doubtful that your lecturer is a looking at individual students during a lecture. We tend to focus on content, time-keeping, generally keeping an eye on the mass … Read More